If you awoke this morning to find a ball of bees hanging from a tree on your property, then you need to arrange for someone to come and remove them as soon as possible.

Bee Swarming Behavior

You might be surprised to learn that all of the bees in a hive are male. Both drone bees, and worker bees, are male. The only female bee in a beehive is the queen bee.

When the hive grows too large, or the queen bee becomes ill, then the hive will hatch a new queen bee to split the hive into two hives. 

As soon as the new queen bee hatches, she immediately leaves the hive in search of her new home. When she leaves, at least half of the existing hive will follow her.

Bee Swarms in Trees

When the queen bee finds a tree that looks like it might make a good place to establish a hive, she lands.

As quickly as the queen bee can land in a tree, she is immediately surrounded by her new hive bees. They surround her in a large ball, known as a swarm, in order to protect their new queen. 

If the queen bee dies, then the entire hive of bees will die as well. This fact makes the bees all want to protect their queen from any harm that might come to her from predators, such as birds and bats.

Removal of Bee Swarms

Since the population numbers for bees have been in decline for the past few years, due to a disease known as colony collapse disorder (CCD), most pest removal companies will no longer poison bee swarms to get rid of them. Instead, they will contact a local beekeeper and let them come out and remove the swarm for their use as a new honey making hive.

The beekeeper will bring a hive box with him. He will place the box under the bees and knock the branch of the tree so that all of the bees, including the queen bee, fall into the box. Once the queen is in the new hive, then the other bees automatically know that the bee box is their new hive.

Conclusion

While a swarm of bees in your tree might freak you out when you first see it, you should know that swarming bees are typically docile and will not sting you, unless they are provoked. Leave the bees in the tree and have a beekeeper, from places like ASAP Bee Removal, come out to remove the swarm for you.